Market Live: Midcaps outperform Sensex, Nifty; Aban, Jai Corp most active

11:20 am Buzzing: Sun Pharma shares extended gains, rising more than 1 percent after CNBC-TV18 reports quoting Cogencis that company’s Halol unit in Gujarat has received Good Manufacturing Certificate from Dutch Agency.

Dutch’s health regulator had audited Sun Pharma’s Halol unit on August 25, 2017.

11:08 am Mobile Users Addition: Bharti Airtel has added 43 lakh users in November while Reliance Jio, the part of Reliance Industries, added 61.2 lakh users in same month.

Idea Cellular and Vodafone, which are going to merge in current year, added 32 lakh and 27 lakh users in November.

Disclosure: Reliance Industries Ltd. is the sole beneficiary of Independent Media Trust which controls Network18 Media & Investments Ltd.

11:05 am Buzzing: Share price of India Nippon Electricals advanced 10 percent intraday as board going to consider sub-division of equity shares of the company.

The company has been decided to convene a meeting of the board of directors on January 29 to consider the unaudited financial results of the company for the quarter ended December 31, 2017.

The board will also consider the proposal of sub-division of equity shares of the company. The board will consider payment of an interim dividend for the year ending March 31, 2018. The rate, quantum, date of payment of interim dividend and the record date, if declared, will be intimated soon after the meeting.

Here are the top headlines at 11 am from Moneycontrol News’ Sakshi Batra

10:58 am Lupin outlook: Lupin is aiming for a bigger thrust on the USD 54-billion complex generics market as it tries to insulate itself from increasing competition and consolidation of distribution channel in US in plain vanilla copycat drugs.

Out of USD 98-billion products under development 55 percent will come from complex categories like biosimilars, inhalation, depot injectables, opthalmic and topical dermatological drugs, the company said in its presentation at JP Morgan Healthcare conference in San Francisco, US.

Lupin—India’s number two company by sales—is banking on the inhalation pipeline worth USD 17 billion in the next three years. It said it is in discussions with the US FDA to explore opportunities to accelerate development timeline for inhalation programs.

10:45 am Results Date: Car maker Maruti Suzuki said the meeting of the board of directors is scheduled to be held on Thursday, January 25 to consider and approve the unaudited financial results for the quarter ended on December 31, 2017.

10:35 am Market Outlook: “We expect strong momentum to continue for equity market over FY19 due to revival in earnings after teething problems of GST, low base of demonetisation, increasing focus of government on infrastructure development even at the cost of fiscal slippage and favourable global headwinds with favourable commodity prices,” Abhinav Gupta – President, Capital Markets – Share India Securities said in an interview to Moneycontrol.

Increasing government spend will lead to higher purchasing power and we expect earnings to grow at around 17-18 percent over next year, he added.

The research house has maintained its year-end Nifty target at 12,500 in line with current multiples and pricing in the earning growth over the course of year. Indian markets currently in pre-budget rally might see a small correction which we believe would be a buying opportunity.

10:15 am Crude Oil Update: Oil prices held near three-year highs, supported by a surprise drop in US production and lower crude inventories, although analysts increasingly warned of signs that fuel markets have overheated.

US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at USD 63.49 a barrel, 0.13 percent below their last settlement but still close to a December 2014 high of USD 63.67 per barrel reached the previous day.

Brent crude futures were at USD 69.09 a barrel, 0.16 percent below their last finish. That was also close to the previous day’s high of USD 69.37 a barrel, which was the highest level since an intraday spike in May 2015 and, before that, in December 2014.

10:05 am Market Check: Benchmark indices continued to be rangebound in morning but the broader markets outperformed, with the Nifty Midcap rising 0.24 percent. Investors focussed on corporate earnings.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 3.41 points at 34,436.48 and the 50-share NSE Nifty slipped 7.30 points to 10,624.90.

About 1,268 shares advanced against 959 declining shares on the BSE.

Here are the top headlines at 10 am from Moneycontrol News’ Anchal Pathak

9:55 am Buzzing: Share price of Som Distilleries and Breweries touched 52-week high of Rs 262.90, gaining nearly 12 percent in morning as investor Porinju  Veliyath bought stake in the company.

On January 10, 2018 Porinju V Veliyath bought 1,50,000 shares of the company at Rs 197.95.

EQ India Fund also bought 5,00,000 shares of the company at Rs 197 on the NSE.

9:45 am Rupee Trade: The rupee weakened 12 paise to trade at 63.71 against the US dollar in morning session at the Interbank Foreign Exchange on increased demand for the American currency from banks and importers.

Foreign fund outflows and rising crude oil prices also weighed on the rupee sentiment.

Crude oil prices were ruling at around three-year high levels, putting pressure on the rupee as India is a major oil importer.

Yesterday, the rupee had bounced back to end higher by 11 paise at 63.60 against the US currency on bouts of dollar selling by exporters and corporates.

9:33 am Satyam Case: Finding Price Waterhouse guilty in the multi-crore Satyam scam, Sebi today barred its network entities from issuing audit certificates to any listed company in India for two years and ordered disgorgement of over Rs 13 crore wrongful gains from the audit major and its two erstwhile partners who worked on the IT major’s accounts.

The market regulator’s order comes after nine years post the scam at Satyam Computer Services came to light and after two failed attempts by auditor major Price Waterhouse to settle the case through consent mechanism.

This is also one of the most stringent orders passed by any regulator against a Big Four audit major.

9:29 am Buzzing: Shares of GE Power India rose 5.6 percent in the early trade on contract win worth Rs 818.3 crore.

The company has been awarded a contract worth approximately Rs 818.3 crore by Navayuga Engineering Company.

The contract includes design, engineering, manufacturing, supply, erection, testing and commissioning of 12 Nos., 80 MW capacity vertical full kaplan turbine generator units along with all associated auxiliary and ancillary equipment.

9:21 am IPO Subscription: The initial public offer (IPO) of Apollo Micro Systems, which caters primarily to the defence and aerospace sectors, was subscribed 2.14 times on the first day of bidding on Wednesday.

The IPO, to raise Rs 156 crore, received bids for 88,60,500 shares against the total issue size of 41,44,955 shares, data available with the NSE showed.

The portion reserved for qualified institutional buyers (QIBs) was subscribed 32 peipocent, non institutional investors 51 per cent and retail investors 3.78 times.

9:15 am Market Check: Equity benchmarks were flat in opening on Thursday as investors await third quarter earnings of Infosys, TCS and IndusInd Bank.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 2.74 points at 34,430.33 and the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 7.20 points to 10,625.

About 780 shares advanced against 536 declining shares on the BSE.

Infosys, Hindalco and HCL Technologies were early gainers.

Wipro, Yes Bank, Bajaj Finance, Cipla, HPCL, L&T, Eicher Motors, Axis Bank and ICICI Bank were early losers.

Jai Corp, Prism Cement, GVK Power, Welspun India, Indiabulls Real, JSW Energy and NMDC gained 1-8 percent.